Mirror cleaning machine



March 24, 1953 5, oss ETAL 2,632,197

MIRROR CLEANING MACHINE Filed May 24 1949 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS.5.444051. Moss,

JUL ms Does-Kl,

A'TTORNEY? March 24, 1953 5. Moss ET AL MIRROR CLEANING MACHINE 3Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 24 1949 INVENTOR5- SAMUEL Moss,

JUL/us Does/ 1,

ATTORNEY.

S. MOSS ET AL MIRROR CLEANING MACHINE March 24, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 5Filed May 24 1949 I nIIllll lll llllllllllln .IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII I 3ll lilllll MM? L 2 Patented Mar. 24, 1953 MIRROR CLEANING MACHINE SamuelMoss and Julius Dorski, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application May 24, 1949, Serial No. 95,116

9 Claims.

This invention relates to the polishing or cleaning of fiat surfaces,and more particularly to the provision of means for cleaning mirrors.

In the manufacture of mirrors it is, of course, necessary, in order toachieve maximum output and low costs, to make manufacture as automaticas possible and this has been done as far as con cerns the silvering ofthe back of the mirrors, and the coating. of the silvered surface with aprotective covering, but it has hitherto been necessary to clean andpolish the front of the mirror by hand.

Taking the production of flat glass mirrors as an example, machines havebeen employed having means for conveying the plate glass from which themirrors are made, lying face down, past stations at which the silveringsolution is sprayed on the glass, the solution dried, and a protectivecoating sprayed on the silvered surface, and also dried. The finishingof the front of the mirror, has, however, required that the mirrorsshould be removed from the machine by hand, allowed to dry whichrequired several hours time and then turned over on their backs in orderthat paint or other protective material which has leaked around theedges of the mirror onto the front, should be cleaned off and thesurface then polished.

The hand finishing of the mirrors required the use-of several persons inorder to keep up with the output of the silvering machine and alsoinvolved considerable loss from breakage in handling.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide mechanical meansto carry out the final cleaning and polishing of the front surface ofthe mirrors, which means can be added to the 'silvering machines, butmay also be arranged as separate machines if desired or preferred.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for continuouslymoving the mirrors face down, as they Would be delivered from the backcoating machine, past a series of mechanisms effective first to cleanthe faces of the mirrors by applying cleaning solution on a softsurfaced element frictionally engaging the surfaces of the mirrors, andthen carry the cleaned mirrors past elements effective to remove themoisture and cleaning medium from the mirror faces and to dry them.

Another object of the invention is to provide a. mirror finishingmachine having means for continuously moving themirrors face down pasta, plurality of elements operating on the faces of the mirrors, themeans moving themirrors being arranged so as to leave the faces of themirrors 2 unobstructed while being operated on by the-elements.

It will be evident that the element applying cleaning solution andacting to clean the mirrors will need to be cleaned from time to timeand it is a further object of the invention to arrange the cleaningelement and a supply of cleaning solution as a self-contained unit whichmay be readily removed, when required, for cleaning and renewal of thecleaning solution.

The film of cleaning solution and the cleaning medium, which may befinely ground pumice, is difiicult to remove unless the film is dried,when the pumice Wil1 be in the form of a fine dust on the mirror surfaceand may be readily brushed off, accordingly it is a further object ofthe invention to provide means directing a blast of air against themirror surface in cooperation with rotary brush means to secure completedrying of and removal of the cleaning medium from the faces of themirrors.

Still further features and objects of the invention will hereinafterappear from the following specification and accompanying drawings whichillustrate embodiments of the invention at present deemed preferable,but it is to be understood that various changes and modifications may bemade in the described embodiment of the invention without departing fromthe scope of the invention as intended to be defined by the appendedclaims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the mirror cleaning and polishing means of theinvention arranged as part of a continuous conveyor fed mirror makingmachine.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 44 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary section, drawn on an enlarged scale, of acleaning element taken on the line 55 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary detail showing an alternative arrangement ofdrive means for thev ma.- chine.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary detail in side elevation showing an alternativemeans of holding the mirrors against the cleaning element over which themirrors are passed.

In the drawings the numeral It indicates the end of a continuousconveyor mirror silvering machine and I2 indicates the cleaning andpolishing means of the invention arranged as a continuation of' machineit.

The end of the conveyor belt of the mirror making machine is shown atI4. At the end of the conveyor belt I 4 which runs over the end beltpulley I5 the mirrors, according to the prior practice, would be liftedoff, turned over and cleaned by hand, but according to this invention,a. continuation of the machine is provided having vertical andlongitudinal framing member and providing a prolongation I8 of the bedof the main machine.

In order to pass the mirrors H from the main machine onto theprolongation of the bed a roll I8 is positioned arranged with its axisparallel to belt pulley I5 and mounted in spring loaded bearings 28.Spaced along bed I8 is a second roll 22 similarly mounted in springloaded bearings 24. A plurality of wide endless belts 28 runs on rollersI8 and 22 and bear against the upper side or back of the mirrors, thefaces of which are supported on a plurality of small freely rotatingrolls 28.

The belts 28 are pressed into firm engagement with the backs of themirrors by rollers 38, 32 mounted on longitudinal bars 34 the ends ofwhich are supported on the shafts 35 of roll I8 and 38 of roll 22. Bars34 are connected by transverse rods 48, forming a rigid and relativelyheavy framework. The roll I8 serves to drive belts 26 by engagement withthe mirrors carried under it by belts I4, or by engagement with thebelts I4 if no mirror is passing under roll I8.

Roll 32 is positioned above a roll 42 which acts as a driving pulley fora series of narrow belts 44 which act to carry the mirrors H from thebelts 26 through the remainder of their travel through the machine. Roll42 is driven in any suitable manner from the main machine, as forinstance by a driving chain 46 engaging with a chain sprocket 48 mountedon the shaft of roll 42.

Belts 44 are arranged in a looped path over rolls 58 mounted in theplane of the machine bed, and lower belt pulleys 52 mounted below themachine bed, and over a clearance belt pulley 52 keeping the return runof the belt from end belt pulley 5| below the level of the lower pulleys52.

A plurality of rolls 54 mounted in spring loaded bearings 58 arearranged to bear against rolls 58 so that the mirrors are held firmly onth belts 44 and passed along the bed of the machine from one pair ofrolls 58, 54 to the next. It is to be understood that the various rollscoming in contact with the mirrors are surfaced with suitable softmaterial such as rubber.

The cleaning and polishing element operating on the lower or front faceof the mirrors comprise a series of brushes 58 and a washing roller 68all of the cleaning and polishing units being driven by a motor 82.Motor 62, through driving pulley 84 and belt 66, drives a belt pulley 58on the shaft of the brush 58 second from the end of the machine. At theopposite side of the machine a double chain sprocket I8 is mounted onthe shaft of the brush and drives chain I2, riding on chain sprocket I8and a chain sprocket I4 on the shaft of the last brush 58 which is thusrotated.

A second chain I8 driven by the double chain sprocket 18 is mounted onchain sprocket 18 on the shaft of the first brush 58, and a belt pulley88 on the shaft drives a belt 82 mounted on belt pulley 83 on the shaftof a small diameter bristle brush roll 84 rotating in operative contactwith a felt covered washing and cleaning roll 86 mounted in a cleaningcompound container 88. Washing roll 86 is driven by chain sprocket 98 onthe opposite end of the shaft of the first brush 58, chain 92 ridingthereon, and driving chain sprocket 94 on the shaft of the washingroller.

Both the washing roll 86 and brush roll 84 are mounted in bearings inthe walls of container 88, which is kept supplied with a cleaningsolution, such for instance as one containing finely powdered pumice.The container is mounted for ready removal so that the cleaning solutionmay be changed, as shown in Fig. 4. The troughlike container 88 issupported at the left end, as seen in Fig. 4, by the left hand edge ofthe bottom of the container en aging on the upper edge of a horizontalframe member 98 and abutting the inturned flange of an upper horizontalframe member I88.

The upper edges of the container 88 are provided at their inner endswith a pair of outwardly projecting pins on which are mounted a pair ofsmall rollers I82 disposed in transverse channels I84 supported on theframe of the machine and which extend the full width of the frame. Theserollers serve to support the left end (Fig. 4) of the container 88 forrolling movement on the channels I84 during insertion of the containeras well as when removing it from the frame. Upon the container reachingthe fully inserted position, its inner end can be lifted to repose onthe upper edge of the frame member 88. In this elevated position of thecontainer end, the rollers I82 are lifted off of the channels I84.

The container 88 is held in inserted position by means of a swinginglatch I86 which may be engaged with an upturned lip I88 secured to anupper horizontal frame member I89, when the right hand end is lifteduntil it contacts the inturned lower flange of member I89 and thereceptacle is thus securely held in position. The container 88 may bereadily removed by disengaging belt 82 from pulley 83, releasing latchI86, and then moving the container slightly to the right to allow theleft hand end to fall slightly, and the rollers I82 to engage thechannels I84 so that the container end is now supported on the channelsby the rollers. This affords sufficient slack to chain 92 to enable itto be readily removed from sprocket 94 after which the trough 88 may berolled to the right, removed with the cleaning rollers mounted therein,emptied, cleaned and refilled with cleaning solution and replaced inposition by reversing the described sequence of steps.

It will be understood that only a small quantity of cleaning compoundneed be held in the lower part of the receptacle, the brush roll whichis mounted in the lower part of the trough, wetting the surface of thefelt covered roller 86 and brushing dirt therefrom. The felt coveredroll rotates rapidly against the lower face of the mirrors as they arecarried over it on the rolls 28 and effectively washes or scours paintsmudges, grease and the like from the faces of the mirrors.

It has been found that the last thin film of pumice adhering to the faceof the mirror is very hard to remove if the glass is at all damp, and anair blast tube III) is arranged extending transversely of the machinebetween the last brush roll and the brush roll preceding it.

The air tube III) is provided with perforations directing the airagainst the glass mirrors travelling over it, with the result that thepumice remaining on the surface is in the form of a fine dust which iscompletely removed by the last brush roll 58.

The pressure air tube is connected in any suitableway tothe pressureair-lines usuallyinstalled in manufacturing shops. In the modificationillustrated in Fig. 6' a motor H2 is shown drivin a sprocket H4 througha speed reducing gear box by which the speed of the drive may be broughtto that desired. Sprocket H 5 drives chain HE which drives a chainsprocket iii-l, se cured on the shaft of belt driving roll 42.

In the modification shown in Fig. '7 an arrangement. of rollers H8 isshown mounted in bars. I29 which may be substituted for the rollerarrangement 32, 30- and bar 3 5 shown in connection with the feed of themirrors to the washing and cleaning roller 69 in Fig; 1. The ob ect ofthe modification shown in Fig. 7 is to secure an, even pressure on thebacks of the mirrors as they are fed over the cleaning unit.

In the operation of making'completely finished mirrors by the use of thefinishing machine for the faces of the mirrors, it will be noted thatthe machine receives the mirrors from the main machine at the same sneedthat they are deli ered to it since the cleaning element belts aredriven only by frictional contact with the conveyor belt of the mainmachine, and no relative motion between the conveyor belts of thecleaning unit and the finished backs of the mirrors can take place, thusavoiding damage to the silvering of the mirrors.

After passing the cleaning element the mirrors are conveyed by thesingle looped conveyor belt, and therefore at a uniform speed. betweenthe cleaning and polishing brush rollers, but are drawn across thesebrushes by rollers driven only by friction from the conveyor belt sothat again any relative movement between the backs of the mirrors andthe conveying means is avoided.

The mirrors are carried throughout the machine on belts on which theyare held by rollers rotating at the same peripheral speed as the belts,and thus cannot be scratched or marred in any way and are delivered fromthe machine without the necessity of any hand operation, thus avoidingthe usual routine of hand cleaning and polishing the mirrors, andeffecting a considerable saving in cost of manufacture.

What we claim is:

1. An automatic machine for cleaning the faces of mirrors, including:means for continuously moving mirrors face downward through the machine;a trough containing cleaning fluid arranged below and transverse to thepath of the mirrors; a rotary brush mounted in said trough in contactwith the cleaning fluid; a cleaning roll mounted in said trough andcontacted by said rotary brush and supplied with cleaning fluid thereby,said cleaning roll engaging With the faces of the mirrors during theirpassage; releasable means effective to retain the trough in operativeposition and to be removed for cleaning and renewal of the cleaningfluid; and drive means for said rotary brush and cleaning roll arrangedto be releasable to permit Withdrawal of said trough.

2. A machine for cleaning the faces of mirrors, including: an elongatedframe; mechanism at the forward end of said frame for conveying mirrorsface downward and in a horizontal path forwardly along the frame; rotarymeans for applying cleaning fluid to the mirror faces as the mirrors aremoved by said mechanism; a plurality of rotary brushes between therotary means and the rear end of said frame arranged at spaced intervalsalong the frame and extending transversely thereof; rolls mountedtransversely in said frame and arranged in groups along the lengththereof with two of the rolls of each group situated on opposite sidesof a rotary brushand a third roll beneath the brush; a plurality ofendless belts trained over each pair of rolls and under the third rollproviding belt stretches extending horizontally bet. een adjacentbrushesforming horizontal supports for the mirror and when moved carrying themirrors from brushto brush and leaving the faces of the mirrors exposedto contact by the brushes; and means for driving the belts and themechanism.

3. A machine as embodied inclaim 2, wherein said driving means is commonto the mechanism and thebelts.

4. A machine as embodied in claim 2, wherein pressure rolls aremountedon the frame above said belts and between the brushes for holdingthemirrors against said belt stretches.

5. A machine as embodied in claim 2, wherein an air jet pipe issupported transversely on said frame immediately ahead of the last ofsaid brushes for drying the cleaning fluid on the faces of the mirrorsso that it will be removed from the mirror faces by the last brush.

6. A machine for cleaning the faces of mirrors, including: an elongatedframe; mechanism at the forward end of said frame for conveying mirrorsface downward and in a horizontal path forwardly along the frame; rotarymeans for applying cleaning fluid to the mirror faces as the mirrors aremoved by said mechanism; a plurality of rotary brushes between therotary means and the rear end of said frame arranged at spaced intervalsalong the frame and extending transversely thereof; rolls mountedtransversely in said frame and arranged in groups along the lengththereof with two of the rolls of each group situated on opposite sidesof a rotary brush and a third roll beneath the brush; a plurality ofendless belts trained over each pair of rolls and under the third rollproviding belt stretches extending horizontally between adjacent brushesforming horizontal supports for the mirror and when moved carrying themirrors from brush to brush and leaving the faces of the mirrors exposedto contact by the brushes; common driving means for the mechanism andthe belts; pressure rolls mounted on the frame above the belts andbetween the brushes for holding the mirrors against said belt stretches;and an air jet pipe supported transversely on said frame immediatelyahead of the last of said brushes for drying the cleaning fluid on thefaces of the mirrors so that it will be removed from the mirror faces bythe last brush.

'7. An automatic machine for cleaning the faces of mirrors, including: aframe; means for continuously moving mirrors face downward through themachine; spaced channels on the frame arranged below and transverse tothe path of movement of the mirrors; a trough containing a clean ingfluid; rollers carried by the trough and engaging said channels forremovably supporting the trough on the frame; a brush rotatably mountedin the trough adjacent the bottom thereof to contact the cleaning fluidtherein; a cleaning roll rotatably mounted in the trough above and incontact with the brush; said roll engaging at its upper side the facesof the mirrors during movement thereof by said means; and drive meansfor the brush and the roll.

8. A machine as embodied in claim 7, wherein the drive means isreleasable to permit withdrawal of the trough.

9. An automatic machine for cleaning the faces of mirrors including: aframe; means for continuously moving mirrors face downward along theframe; a, trough containing a cleaning fluid; a rotary brush mounted inthe trough; a cleaning roll mounted in the trough above and in contactwith the rotary brush; driving means for said brush having a driven parton the brush with a flexible driving part on the frame engaging thedriven part; driving means for said roll having a driven part on theroll and a flexible driving part on the frame engaging the driven part;means on the frame for removably supporting the trough thereon below andtransversely of the path of movement of the mirrors and to occupy anelevated position in which said roll has contact with the faces of themirrors as moved by said mirror moving means, and a lowered position inwhich the flexible driving part for the roll can be disengaged from thedriven part to allow removal of 8 the trough; and latching means forsecuring the trough in elevated position.

SAMUEL MOSS. JULIUS DORSm.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 451,263 Buckman Apr. 28, 1891500,219 Sague June 27, 1893 1,104,498 Hasburg July 21, 1914 1,856,129Drake May 3, 1932 1,888,498 Gipe et a1. Nov. 22, 1932 1,930,575 Wynd eta1 Oct. 1'7, 1933 1,953,352 Kranich Apr. 3, 1934 2,204,168 Wood June 11,1940

